Wrong kind of rain...

Author
Discussion

Fat Albert

Original Poster:

1,392 posts

182 months

Wednesday 6th June 2012
quotequote all
I recall the Wessex struggling in heavy rain as it tended to lift the blade-tape resulting in a curious whispering noise and a bit of vibration....

Saw a Merlin come over low this afternoon and assumed he was mucking around near the lake and then bu**ered off, when I took the dog for a walk later on I came across this in a field next to the Nene:




The crewman explained that it was a bad case of tape lift and was awaiting an engineer to arrive by road. It departed later, but the whisper could still be heard

It strikes me that there must be a better solution than tape, and surely in the 23 years since I was on Wessex a better solution must be available?

Also the fact that the engineer had to come by road, in my day another cab would have been despatched with said engineer, obviously things have changed somewhat!

I think the crew were regretting putting down on the busiest dog-walking path in Thrapston...!

HoHoHo

14,987 posts

251 months

Wednesday 6th June 2012
quotequote all
And 'tape lift' is exactly confused

Fat Albert

Original Poster:

1,392 posts

182 months

Wednesday 6th June 2012
quotequote all
The blades have a coating of tape on the leading edge, in heavy rain this can be lifted and starts peeling back, upsetting the airflow over the blades

Simpo Two

85,500 posts

266 months

Wednesday 6th June 2012
quotequote all
How can it peel back in such a headwind? And what is the tape for?

anonymous-user

55 months

Wednesday 6th June 2012
quotequote all
it's "helicopter tape"! When it's not being borrowed to protect parts of my rally car, or on my mountain bike, it's used on the leading edges of rotor blades for abrasion resistance ;-)


More years ago now than i like to remember, when i were a little nipper, a helicopter put down in the field across the road, and when we went with my dad to see what was up the pilot said "a warning light came on, so we landed". When asked "what was it warning about" he replied " no idea, it's not actually labelled!" And indeed it wasn't, just a solitary small red lamp in the middle of an otherwise unmarked black crackle finish panel.......... I wonder if things were a bit more relaxed in them days ;-)

Edited by anonymous-user on Wednesday 6th June 19:29

Simpo Two

85,500 posts

266 months

Wednesday 6th June 2012
quotequote all
Wonder if Armourfend would work?

HoHoHo

14,987 posts

251 months

Wednesday 6th June 2012
quotequote all
Simpo Two said:
Wonder if Armourfend would work?
Or slightly more expensive blades!

Presumably sand is slightly more absrasive than rain? Bit of a bummer whilst wizzing around Iraq if your Sellotape falls off and you can't get home wink

baughany

193 posts

180 months

Wednesday 6th June 2012
quotequote all
We were walking the dogs through the meadow when it landed, it did sound ropey as it came over Islip.

The crew were brilliant and let our boys have a look round. Would post pics but not sure how, could someone help?

Mr Sparkle

1,921 posts

171 months

Wednesday 6th June 2012
quotequote all
baughany said:
We were walking the dogs through the meadow when it landed, it did sound ropey as it came over Islip.

The crew were brilliant and let our boys have a look round. Would post pics but not sure how, could someone help?
IF the picks are on your hard drive: -
-Click 'Upload an image (beta)'
-Click 'Choose File'
-Then find the file as you would in any other program, and click 'open' on the bottom right of the window.
-Click 'upload' and wait for it to upload then close the window.
-Repeat for each picture.

I think some people just post the url if the pic is online.

baughany

193 posts

180 months

Wednesday 6th June 2012
quotequote all
Thanks - hope this works

http://thumbsnap.com/sc/CqPe6cAp.jpg

http://thumbsnap.com/sc/e68PHtdU.jpg

http://thumbsnap.com/sc/XibzMMUZ.jpg

We dont normally take the boys out in the rain in t shirts, it did come and go very suddenly!

HoHoHo

14,987 posts

251 months

Wednesday 6th June 2012
quotequote all
baughany said:
Thanks - hope this works







We dont normally take the boys out in the rain in t shirts, it did come and go very suddenly!
Fixed for you wink

tight5

2,747 posts

160 months

Wednesday 6th June 2012
quotequote all
Simpo Two said:
Wonder if Armourfend would work?
or -

http://www.venture-shield.co.uk/

?

baughany

193 posts

180 months

Wednesday 6th June 2012
quotequote all
Brilliant! Thanks alot - I'd just put the ipad down and was going to try on the PC, it didn't seem to go too well the ipad way.

I didn't think it sounded any different when it took off again about half past six this evening, as Albert said - now I gather it made it as far as Stanwick and will be there overnight.







Edited to see if I could work out how to do it - thanks again!

Edited by baughany on Wednesday 6th June 23:28

andyroo

2,469 posts

211 months

Wednesday 6th June 2012
quotequote all
Wait - a military helicopter was grounded in a field because of some peeling Sellotape!?

Budget cuts are worse than I realised!

Fat Albert

Original Poster:

1,392 posts

182 months

Wednesday 6th June 2012
quotequote all
I did wonder about the impact of sand...

baughany

193 posts

180 months

Wednesday 6th June 2012
quotequote all
Apparently it was about to be deployed somewhere sandy, and the tape goes on to reduce wear on the leading edges in that environment.

I didn't realise we had so many local PHers Albert, are you in Thrapston, or Islip?

Fat Albert

Original Poster:

1,392 posts

182 months

Wednesday 6th June 2012
quotequote all
I moved to Islip just over a month ago

baughany

193 posts

180 months

Wednesday 6th June 2012
quotequote all
Ah OK, I hope you like it, it's a nice place. We're on the wrong side of the tracks in Thrapston.

Your comment earlier about the dog walking track made me wonder whether they hopped over to Stanwick this evening to get away from all the onlookers! There were dozens on the way when we left earlier.

albatross

108 posts

157 months

Thursday 7th June 2012
quotequote all
Could they hold the sellotape on with a bit more string?

0a

23,901 posts

195 months

Thursday 7th June 2012
quotequote all
baughany said:
Brilliant! Thanks alot - I'd just put the ipad down and was going to try on the PC, it didn't seem to go too well the ipad way.

I didn't think it sounded any different when it took off again about half past six this evening, as Albert said - now I gather it made it as far as Stanwick and will be there overnight.







Edited to see if I could work out how to do it - thanks again!

Edited by baughany on Wednesday 6th June 23:28
That's really cool I bet your boys will remember that forever!